Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [28 Jan-2 Feb]

We bring to you the latest edition of Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week!

In one of the biggest Indian startup fundings this week, Flipkart cofounder Sachin Bansal invested $7 Mn (INR 50 Cr) in his new venture, BAC Acquisitions. According to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs filings accessed by Inc42, the company has allotted 50 Lakh equity shares to Sachin Bansal on January 25, 2019. The startup aims to develop platforms to optimise business automation and computerisation of processes across sectors.

In all, this week 19 startups raised $26.56 Mn and four startup acquisitions took place in the Indian startup ecosystem altogether. (This funding report is based on startups that disclosed funding amount.)

Indian Startup Fundings Of The Week

AptEner: Bengaluru-based biker gear maker AptEner Mechatronics raised $1.4 Mn (INR 10 Cr) Series A funding led by venture capital firms Inventus India and KITVEN. The company plans on utilising the funds to launch its products in the market, and also expand across geographies.

The Better India: Bengaluru-based online impact company The Better India raised $3.5 Mn (INR 25 Cr) in Series A funding led by venture capital firm Elevar Equity, as the company aims to scale up its ecommerce vertical. This round also saw the participation from the Rise Fund managed by TPG Growth.

CreditVidya: Mumbai-based deeptech startup CreditVidya raised $3 Mn (INR 21.3 Cr) in extended Series B funding round led by Bharat Innovation Fund. The company looks to utilise the latest round of funding to scale the business further and get quality investors on the board who can help them with their advisory.

NutriTap: Gurugram-headquartered healthy food supplier NutriTap raised $282K (INR 2 Cr) in a seed funding round. The funding round was led by angel investor Apoorva Patni, Sameer Khetarpal (director Category, Amazon) and senior members of McKinsey & Co, Google etc. The fresh seed funds will be used to scale up in Mumbai and Bengaluru while developing its tech-integrated platform.

Kutuki: Bengaluru-based early learning startup Kutuki raised an undisclosed amount of pre-seed funding from Better Capital and Mphasis founder Jerry Rao. The startup will use the funds for content development, focusing on vernacular languages, build partnerships and to drive user acquisition across tier 2 and tier 3 markets.

SimYog: Bengaluru-based deeptech startup SimYog Technologies raised $885.7K (INR 6.3 Cr) in a funding round led by Bosch venture capital arm with participation from early-stage venture capital firm Ideaspring Capital. The startup plans to use the fresh funds to expand its product offering. The company will also expand its team to 12 people—from five now—over the next year, as it adds customers and products.

InfiniChains: San Francisco and Pune-based blockchain startup InfiniChains raised $2.4 Mn (INR 17.07 Cr) in its Series A funding round from Ajanta Pharma founder Purushottam Agrawal. The company aims to use the funds to invest in marketing and spread the company’s products abroad as the big chunk of the audience will be in the US and Europe

Clootrack: Bengaluru-based AI startup Clootrack raised $500K (INR 3.56 Cr) in a seed funding round from Indian Angel Network.  IAN Fund, Unicorn India Ventures (existing investor), SEA Fund and Malabar Angel Network also participated in the round. The company plans to use the funds for scaling up, fine-tune go to market strategy and towards product development.

Crio: Bengaluru-based learning platform for software developers, Crio.Do, raised $1 Mn (INR 7.12 Cr) in a seed funding round led by Flipkart cofounder Binny Bansal with participation from B2B ecommerce company Udaan’s founders, Amod Malviya, Vaibhav Gupta and Sujeet Kumar; Udhyam Learning founder Mekin Maheshwari and ex-Flipkart CRO Ravi Garikipati. Crio plans to use the funds to build its product and scale the team, as it looks to add more modules to serve a wider base of technology skills.

Ignis Careers:  Hyderabad-based social enterprise Ignis Careers raised $150K in funding from Atlanta headquartered education sector focused impact investor Gray Matters Capital through its edLABS initiative.  With the funding it will look to expand its presence to 16 more centres in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra by FY 2021, The funding would also be used to strengthen the leadership team by recruiting senior administrative personnel.

Keeros: Lucknow-based roasted super snacks brand Keeros raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Venture Catalysts. The key committed investors in this round of funding included – H.S. Saberwal, Global IT Head – Quantitative Hedge Fund, New York; Ravinder Singh – National IT head for NETS AS, Norway; Saurav Dasgupta, Global head of Treasury & Liquidity, Trans-Fast Remittance, Dubai; Sandeep Jain, President – Gemcolorz Group, New York; SandeepZutshi – Former CEO, Sri Lanka & Ex-India Sales head,  Britannia Foods; Rekha Singh, Co-Founder –  Divine Life Ayurveda, Lucknow. The company looks to launch more products for a greater share of the high-potential healthy snacking segment in India.

MoneyOnClick: Bengaluru-based lending startup MoneyOnClick raised $2.15 Mn (INR 15 Cr) in a seed funding round led by venture capital firms Orios Venture Partners, Kalaari Capital, and 3one4 Capital. The startup plans to use the funds to strengthen its core technology with a machine-learning based credit underwriting and risk assessment platform. The funds will also enable the company to hire leadership and operations teams.

Kruzr: Bengaluru-based insurtech startup Kruzr raised $1.3 Mn (INR 9.5 Cr) in a seed round led by Saama Capital with participation from Better Capital. The funds raised will be utilised to grow the technology team, scale the product, and expand the business in Europe and UK.

Streamsource: Gurugram-based blockchain marketplace Streamsource raised $1 Mn (INR  7 Cr) in seed from Accel India. The startup plans to bring more lenders on board besides expanding its operations to other markets and increasing the team strength.

AzaniSports: Bengaluru-based FireSide Ventures announced an undisclosed investment in AzaniSports. Founded by Siddharth Suchde, Punith Kumar and Alfons Jose, Azani Sports is an active sportswear brand which sells sports goods, apparel, compression gear and footwear.

Shortlist: Mumbai-based talent vetting company Shortlist raised $2 Mn (INR 14.2 Cr) in Series A funding led by Blue Haven Ventures, along with participation from Zephyr Acorn, Compass Venture Capital, Potencia Ventures, and others. The company plans to use the funds to expand outreach to job seekers, improve its algorithmic matching, and expand geographically.

BookMyBai: Domestic helper provider aggregator Bookmybai.com raised another Pre-series A round of undisclosed amount from the social enterprise incubator Villgro Innovations Foundation. The funding will be used for enhancing our technology capabilities and increasing our supply pool in order to meet the ever-increasing demand of workers across India.

Awaaz: Hyperlocal video news platform Awaaz has raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding from Matrix Partners. The startup looks to expand its service beyond Uttar Pradesh and diversify its offering into more regional languages.

Indian Startup Acquisitions Of The Week

• Noida-headquartered digital payments company Paytm has strengthened its travel business with the acquisition of Noida-based last-minute hotel booking app, NightStay for an undisclosed amount. After the acquisition, NightStay founder Nasr Khan will lead the hotel-booking services at Paytm.
• Delhi-based food and beverage franchise management company Yellow Tie Hospitality acquired casual dining brand Bombay Blue from Blue Foods owned by Everstone Capital for an undisclosed amount. Yellow Tie Hospitality plans to revamp the brand to make it more relevant to the competition and customers experience and then relaunch it in a fast-casual family dining format. The revamped Bombay Blue will be part of Yellow Tie’s incubation programme.
• Singapore-based K12 education company XSEED Education Ple acquired edtech startup Report Bee for an undisclosed amount. Ananthraman Mani, founder of Report Bee along with cofounders Bala Ganesh S. and Anjan T. will join XSEED as key members of the XSEED technology product team. By integrating Report Bee’s assessment platform and a suite of products, XSEED seeks to make it easier for schools to make real-time assessments, provide personalised student feedback, and analyze data to diagnose teaching gaps.
• Bengaluru-based Medlife International acquired digital healthcare platform and a ‘diagnostics at home’ services company Medlabz. With this acquisition, the company plans to consolidate its diagnostics business by integrating its technology platform and the logistic strengths of both companies.

Other Developments Of The Week

• UK-based engineering company Rolls Royce’s acceleration hub R2 Data Labs will develop a collaborative ecosystem of digital partners in India to help accelerate the startups. The accelerator programme is set to be launched in Bengaluru. As a part of this, the company will also mentor startups and provide funds to the startups for their proof-of-concepts.
• Gurugram-based food delivery and restaurant discovery company, Zomato, is reportedly in talks with Berlin-based food delivery player Delivery Hero to divest its UAE business. The company may reportedly sell its business for $200 Mn-$250 Mn as it looks to focus its resources on its fight against homegrown rival Swiggy.
• Gurugram-based incubator Huddle has collaborated with The Mosaic Coworking space in Mumbai, inviting B2B startups to apply for a 6-month structured incubation programme where they are providing each startup with a dedicated mentor and free space in the renowned Mosaic coworking lab, along with opportunities to raise investment through the course of the program.
• Around 75 women entrepreneurs have graduated from the third edition of the Women Entrepreneurship Development Program (WEDP) conducted by Walmart India. The WEDP 3.0 cohort represented both product categories — such as edible cutlery, eco-friendly stationery and gift items, apparel, herbal cosmetics, spices, processed food, tea, and nutrition bars — as well as services such as AI consultancy, energy efficient solutions, travel management solutions, and research and insights.
• Microsoft has signed a MoU with the Government of Sikkim to revamp the educational system in the northeastern states. Under the MoU, Microsoft will support Sikkim to build new age tech capacity among students and faculty in government schools in the state.  This will include integration of IT content in the state board curriculum to build student capacity, whole school reform through the Microsoft Innovative Schools Programm etc.
• Target has announced the successful conclusion of cohort six of the Target Accelerator Program (TAP) where startups built retail solutions using emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and 3D visualisation. At the conclusion of the programme, each startup is given an opportunity to present their solutions and receive inputs from business leaders and mentors. The successful six startups are Kenome, Point105-AR, Quilt.ai, Moodboard, Eder.ai and StyleDod.
• UK-based talent investor Entrepreneur First has launched in India with its first-ever cohort of 50 founders in Bengaluru. As part of its pledge, EF will invest in each of the companies developed during its bi-annual Bengaluru programme that clear the Investment Committee. They will also pay each of the selected cohort members a monthly stipend during their process of developing startup ideas in the first three months.

Stay tuned for the next week edition of Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week!

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